After Gaffe, Cardinals’ Randy Choate Recalls Lesson Learned Early

SAN FRANCISCO — In his first trip to Fenway Park, in 2001, Randy Choate was summoned from the Yankees’ bullpen to stanch some late-inning bleeding. Choate got to the mound and threw three of his eight warm-up pitches to the backstop, the crowd howling.

His first pitch to Trot Nixon sailed over the batter’s head. Choate hit Nixon in the ankle with his next pitch, a slider.

His next pitch, to Darren Lewis, sailed past the catcher.

With that, Manager Joe Torre was on his way to the mound to remove Choate.

Choate, who was in his first full season in the majors, was uncertain of his place on the team. He wanted to pull a hoodie over his head when the veteran Mike Stanton, another left-handed reliever, approached him before the clubhouse opened to reporters.

“He could tell I was upset and had a small case of the yips, and he walked me into the showers and talked to me,” Choate said. “He said, ‘These guys are going to come in; you clean yourself up and make sure you have a good face, and when they come in there, you make sure you take the questions because you’ve got to take the good with the bad.’ ”

Choate, no longer a wet-behind-the-ears kid, is now a 39-year-old veteran. He has bounced around among Arizona, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Florida, Los Angeles and St. Louis, with a number of trips to the minor leagues and the Dominican Republic sprinkled in. He has been around long enough to have played with Montreal.

On Tuesday he was in an uncomfortable spotlight again after his throwing error allowed the Giants’ Brandon Crawford to race home with the winning run in San Francisco’s 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

When the clubhouse doors opened to members of the news media, Choate was standing in front of his locker waiting for about 20 news media members to approach him. He answered every question, never offering an excuse for anything that happened.

“I love being out there for that,” Choate said. “It’s what makes that all the more disappointing is that that ball would get away from me like that.”

The throwing error, on Gregor Blanco’s sacrifice bunt attempt, was the culmination of a Murphy’s Law of an inning for Choate. It began when he walked Crawford after a tense eight-pitch at-bat in which Crawford fouled off a pair of 2-2 pitches.

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The Cardinals’ Randy Choate heading to the dugout after his error allowed the Giants to score the winning run in Game 3.CreditChris Lee/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via Associated Press

Then, when Choate did not give Juan Perez any pitches he could bunt — Perez fouling them off — he surrendered a looping liner into left by a batter who hit .170 during the season.

Then came Blanco’s bunt, a simple one. Choate fielded it, turned and fired the ball past second baseman Kolten Wong, who was covering first. The ball rolled into the Giants’ bullpen, allowing Crawford to race home.

If there was anyone who could sympathize with Choate, it was Wong. He, too, was an anonymous player when he was thrust into the national spotlight during last year’s World Series after he was picked off first base to end Game 4 against the Red Sox.

“Mistakes happen; it’s what makes this game so interesting to watch because little things like that happen,” Wong said Wednesday before batting practice. “That’s the thing with the postseason — everything’s magnified. It lingers around. For me, it was really tough. I’d never experienced anything like that at such a big level.”

Choate said he had learned a lot about resilience in that 2001 season with the Yankees. He ended up being a solid contributor when they reached that season’s World Series, which he pitched in. But a lesson that was particularly useful, like the one in Boston, was gleaned in the aftermath of the Game 7 loss in Arizona.

After Mariano Rivera blew a one-run lead and the Yankees lost, his fielding error contributing to the defeat, Choate watched how Rivera handled the loss. Rivera stood in front of reporters for 20 minutes, answering questions about what went wrong.

“I don’t see any other way,” Choate said. “You can’t come in when you strike out the side and get a win and be like, ‘Hey!’ and then when it’s bad, you’re running into the shower or the lounge because you don’t want to answer questions. It’s not the way I was raised, and Stan and Mo left a big impression.”

Choate has carved out a lengthy career because of his ability to get left-handed batters out. His sidearm sinking fastball and slider are a challenge for left-handers to hit, and he has led each league in appearances. Left-handers batters hit .093 against Choate this season.

Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said he wanted Choate in the game to face Crawford, who is 0 for 6 against him but has walked five times. With the left-handed hitters Blanco and Joe Panik coming up next, Matheny wanted to keep him in the game against Perez, even if he was not bunting.

“All of these things lead in the direction that we want Randy on the mound there,” said Matheny, who had the right-hander Carlos Martinez ready in the bullpen.

Choate expressed hope that he would be back on the mound Wednesday if circumstances called for getting one of the Giants’ left-handed batters out. That opportunity arrived when he was called on to face Blanco in the fourth inning with two outs, a runner on first and St. Louis protecting a 4-3 lead. Blanco, who squared to bunt on the first pitch, drew a walk. Choate fell behind Panik before getting him to bounce a full-count fastball back to him. Choate gloved the ball and ran toward first base, underhanding the ball to Matt Adams.

As Choate ran into the dugout, Matheny smiled at him.

Correction:

Because of an editing error, an article on Thursday about St. Louis Cardinals reliever Randy Choate, whose error led to the winning run in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the San Francisco Giants, misstated, in some copies, the year he had a difficult outing at Fenway Park that shaped how he handled adversity. It was in 2001, not 2000.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: After Gaffe, Cardinals Veteran Recalls Lessons Learned Early in Career. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe